Truly beautiful golden domes on mount of olives that can be seen for many miles around. Well kept Russian Orthodox church with lovely gardens. Restricted visiting hours
Church of Mary Magdalene
One of the more distinctive churches dotting the slopes of the Mount of Olives is the Church of Mary Magdalene, a Russian Orthodox church built in 1886 by Czar Alexander III in honor of his mother, Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The church was constructed in the traditional Russian style of the 16th and 17th centuries, with seven gilded onion domes.
There are many icons on display at the church, which also holds the remains of two martyred Orthodox saints, the Russian Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and her fellow nun, Varvara Yakovleva. Princess Alice of Greece, the Grand Duchess’s niece and the mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, noted for rescuing Jews from the clutches of the Nazis in Greece, is also buried there.
Photos courtesy of Ministry of Tourism, by Noam Chen
TripAdvisor Reviews
Based on 111 traveler reviews“Beautiful”
“A blessed place in many ways ”
Russian Church of Maria Magdalena is where the great passion of the Kaiser, the great Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, is buried. She was a Hesse cousin who refused the Kaiser and married the Tsar's uncle. After his death, in an attempt, she renounced everything and founded an order. In the Revolution she was brutally killed...
MoreRussian Church of Maria Magdalena is where the great passion of the Kaiser, the great Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, is buried. She was a Hesse cousin who refused the Kaiser and married the Tsar's uncle. After his death, in an attempt, she renounced everything and founded an order. In the Revolution she was brutally killed and taken through China to this church in Jerusalem, which she had visited when she was consecrated, since it was dedicated to her mother-in-law (czarina Maria Alexandrovna) and who was also her great-aunt of the German family of Hesse. In the same church consecrated to the Czarina Maria Alexandrovna, where is its nephew granddaughter and daughter-in-law Elizabeth Feodorovna also is buried the mother of Prince Phillip (husband of the queen Elizabeth) that was in turn niece of the Grand Duchess. I must add that this church is a dear place to Russians visiting Jerusalem And That the sisters and ladies that care for the church are REMARKABLY congenial and helpful , something not common in much others holy places .
Less“Very interesting tour at the Church of Saint Mary Magdalena”
We had the incredible luck to have a guided tour and the guide was Father Roman, who knows everything about this church, had the keys to every door, opened for us a cave that is normally locked and gave us permission to see the holy relics and even to take photos everywhere (The nuns...
MoreWe had the incredible luck to have a guided tour and the guide was Father Roman, who knows everything about this church, had the keys to every door, opened for us a cave that is normally locked and gave us permission to see the holy relics and even to take photos everywhere (The nuns were not so happy and told us that it is forbidden, but as he gave us permission - we were allowed to continue photographing...). The gardens are exquisite and very well kept.
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